Nowadays, as information systems become ubiquitous and companies and organizations of all sectors become more and more dependent on their computing resources, the requirement for the availability of the hardware and software components of an IT network, and of services based on such a network, is increasing while the complexity of IT networks is growing. An IT network often comprises a diversity of systems, such as routers, hosts, servers, with operating systems, middleware and applications. The management of all these systems becomes important, not only for large organizations, but also for medium-sized and small ones.
Network management of a TCP/IP network comprises network management stations (“managers”) communicating with network elements. The network elements can be anything that runs the TCP/IP protocol suite: Routers, hosts, servers, etc. (As to the meaning of the “TCP/IP protocol suite”, see e.g. W. Richard Stevens: TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1, The Protocols, 1994, pages 1 to 2). A protocol for the communication between the manager and the elements is the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), which is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. Since most of the SNMP messages are simple request-reply protocols (the manager sends a request, the element sends back a reply), SNMP mostly uses UDP, which is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite, rather than TCP. SNMP enables two-way communication: A manager can ask an element for a specific value, or the element can tell the manager that something happened. Also, the manager is able to set variables in the element, in addition to reading variables from it. A description of SNMP can, for example, be found in Stevens, Vol. 1, pages 359 to 388.
Another standard which was developed for remote login, but can also be used more generally for network management is Telnet (see e.g. Stevens, Vol. 1, pages 389 to 418).
Another standard for network management is what is called the “Desktop Management Interface” (DMI). It has been defined by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). DMI is a standard framework for managing and tracking components in a desktop personal computer, notebook or server.
An emerging standard for the management of operating systems and applications is the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM). WBEM is a set of management tools using emerging technologies such as CIM and XML. In particular, WBEM is a set of the following technologies: “CIM Schema v 2.2”, “CIM Operations over http”, and “XML encodings for CIM”. CIM stands for Common Information Model and is a data model for describing information for the management of enterprise computing environments. XML stands for Extensible Mark up Language and is a standard which can be used for exchanging messages between different applications.
The Internet is a global public TCP/IP network. Non-public IT networks—also called intranets—are often constructed on the basis of the same internet technologies. Usually, the intranet is connected to the Internet in a way that does not compromise internal proprietary information by a firewall gateway. The firewall gateway creates a protected enclave by enforcing restrictions on Internet citizens' access to the intranet. A firewall gateway is a router between the intranet and the Internet that filters out (discards) certain IP datagrams, for example, such incoming datagrams which cannot be identified as web responses to web requests sent out from the intranet (see Stevens, Vol. 1, page 483). “Web” stands for the “World Wide Web” which, in turn, means the Internet with the HTTP protocol (or HTTPS) (see e.g. W. Richard Stevens: TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 3, TCP for Transactions, HTTP, NNTP, and the UNIX Domain Protocols, 1996, pages 161 to 176).
There are network management systems available which enable the availability and performance of objects within an intranet to be managed. For example, HEWLETT-PACKARD offers such a product family under the name “HP OPENVIEW”. A corresponding network-management software package has to be installed on a management server within the intranet to be managed and has to be adapted and configured to the structure of the particular intranet. The necessity to install the management software package within the intranet is due to the fact that the firewall is usually set up to discard incoming non-requested IP datagrams with SNMP messages. A remote login in the management server is possible, for example via an ISDN connection.
Online support services for desktop computers across the Internet boundary are offered by support service providers, such as Support.com, Inc. and Motive Communications, Inc. A customer has to install and run a special computer program on his desktop computer in order to get the support. The communication with the support provider is carried out via the Internet using HTTP. These known systems for desktop computer support do not enable a management of networks.